Journey's Start
by chat.cha
Summary: Old souls, new life. Post-Journey's End.
1. Prologue

_Writer's note: Rose/Doctor is my OTP; therefore, I have spent a lot of time thinking about those words in Journey's End. I hold no objection to the suggested "I love you" but can't be satisfied with it. Then, I figured out what I wanna hear and decided to do something with it. _

_Angst is to be expected, but I do not want it to be the core of this piece (or maybe I am not qualified to write angst :D). I just wish to produce something neat and not a blasphemy of what I love._

_Reviews are warmly welcomed._

_-oOo-_

_Prologue_

The TARDIS engine rumbled as the dematerialization process commenced. The blue box seemed to have vaporized into thin air, along with her skinny man. He left her. This time, there was no burning up a sun to say goodbye, no unsaid words, no tears shed. This time, he left her. For the greater cause, of course, always for the greater cause. She could not blame him, that wonderful man had had his hearts smashed to keep the worlds unbroken. But she could not help feeling bad towards him either.

She turned away from the blank space where that magic box, that wonderful world with all the laughter and tears, used to stand. She couldn't bear looking at it for any other second without breaking down. Too much for a day, too much. On turning around, she caught the sight of him, the _other _him, looking at her with confused eyes.

"Thank you", she sighed, "for working with me on that kiss. Only through breaking a part of his heart can we set his soul in peace." And before he could say anything in return, she carried on, "and for being honest to me."

"You know?" he whispered, then realized it was not a decent thing to say.

"Course I do, long time ago."

"Know what, sweetheart?" Jackie asked, a certain amount of worry could be heard in her voice.

"Some day after his hand had been cut off, I asked him about that, mom. He told me once it's gone, there was no longer a connection, either physical or mental, between it and the rest of him. That being said, he", she paused, eyeing the Doctor, "knew nothing about our life in the TARDIS after that Christmas Day."

"Even if I did, nothing changes. There are some things he keeps ultimately to himself." the Doctor uttered.

"Then what did you whisper in her ear…?" Jackie stopped. She was clever enough to know what had been uttered. And after a while, she declared, "Come on, you two. Pete's waiting. Let's get the heck out of this damn cold beach."

Following Jackie, they slowly removed themselves from the sandy spot. The wind was still roaring, and Rose felt thankful. The angry sound of nature could help calm down what had been ranting in her mind since his departure. How could he expect her to move on, after all that time, after all that effort just to get together with him? What were she supposed to do with her life now? If she could easily settle down with someone else, she would have done it years ago. How dare he think she would accept this man to be him right away? Was she just another soldier of his, who would take his word as the ultimate order? She couldn't help but sensing a surge of bitterness in her veins.

The high-pitched voice of Jackie's calling Pete snapped Rose out of her thoughts. She looked sideways, realizing that this Doctor had not taken his eyes off her since they started walking. Oh, there was one question worth asking.

"You could lie to me, couldn't you? With your brilliant mind, you could just come up with something you know that I want to hear?"

"I would never do that to you, Rose Tyler," he smiled. "I am not a Time Lord with the twisted tongue to keep the universe in balance any more. I am just a man now. Your man. How can I lie to the woman I love?"

"Could not say the same to you, at this time!" she sighed.

"I know," he said. "You have crossed multiple universes to find me. Now it's time for me to cross your universe to find you."

"We'll see then. By the way, I can't call you Doctor anymore. You're still not him. Sorry."

"John Smith. Just call me John Smith, the very human I have longed to become centuries ago," he held her hand while saying so.

"So, John Smith then. Heard that alias a few times. Never thought that it will become your real name," she finally managed to crack up a faint smile. "Come on, John. We have a long story to tell Pete."

The wind and the ocean kept chatting in a mixture of indistinctive sounds. It seemed that they were in an enthusiastic discussion about the three words he breathed into her ears, "I don't know". Well, nobody knew. In the other universe where the "stuff of legend" shop girl had been in the list of the dead, the Bad Wolf and the Oncoming Storm could not fight against all odds alongside. But this was a whole different world, with its own rules. Rose and John might not end up happily, but a chance had been offered.

She was not a naïve teenager any more, and he had shrugged off the burden of the last of the Time Lord. This time, journey's start.


	2. Chapter 1

_Writer's note: To be honest, I don't know what to do with Tony, Jackie and Pete's son in Pete's world. I really don't figure out the way to make him a decent place in this story. Therefore, in this version of Pete's world, there will be no Tony._

CHAPTER 1: CHRISTMAS

All over the world, people were celebrating Christmas. It was that time of the year again, when frustration and misery could be put aside, either for one particular day or the whole month, so that humans had a chance to appreciate the beauty of everything around; or at least, they hope so. This year was not specifically cheerful, for most of the time was spent in the dark, literally. Some Romeo turned old waiting for the emblem of their oaths to appear, and Clair de Lune had been renamed into Clair de Whatever-used-to-hang-in-the-sky. Fortunately, they are all back just in time for the big feast, with grease and gravy as usual. That modest house in the Powell Estate, though not an ordinary house as it would seem, dare not getting out of the green-and-red tapestry either.

Everyone there seemed to be busy with Christmas preparation, but none of them was enjoying what they were doing. In fact, they did feel glad that they are all up to their neck with stuff, since the mess in the house could distract them from the mess in their mind. Pete and Jackie still took turn helping with the cleaning and cooking for the big night, but there was not much for them to do. Rose had been spending each and every minute on Christmas shopping and preparing when she was not in Torchwood working. John had been re-employed by U.N.I.T (a chance like this to get their consultant back, they wouldn't miss it for the world), and was now living with the Tylers. U.N.I.T did offer him a house of his own, but on knowing that, Pete had a long conversation with the big boys there. Though not wholeheartedly agreeing, they still had to admit that it would be better for him to stay with his friends (ok, friends), not some overexcited colleagues jumping at every chance to fanboy him.

The big night arrived, and they all sat down for a proper meal. They, namely the two senior Tylers, dined and chatted continuously, mostly to compensate for the depressing silence between the other two. They still communicated for daily sake, but in such a detached voice that could easily be mistaken for a lecture. Rose particularly reacted in an unpleasant manner upon hearing John call her by first name. It was the same voice, _his _voice, the voice that wouldn't stop praising cakes with ball bearings. And Pete couldn't help but notice that John was weirdly calm. Once in a while he saw John's eyes flickering with excitement upon finding some odd objects, but his voice remained low. It was impossible to read his mind, but Pete was quite confident that John was trying his best not to remind Rose of the old Doctor.

Sipping another glass of wine, Pete broke the silence: "So, basically, before you got to this house, you just remember me as a dead man who failed to pronounce the full name of his wife?"

"Sorry, but yes," John replied. "And I still don't trust you on that."

"Oh, you read his profile," Jackie commented. "Which part is your favorite then?"

"Well," he paused for a second when Rose was drinking louder than normal. "I can't tell you what I'm thinking right now."

Indeed. His mind was blank at the moment. He couldn't help being himself, is that a crime? But seeing her being pulled back into the old vortex like that was never an option.

"Excuse me, I have an urgent report to do for Torchwood," Rose stood up. "Great beans, as usual, mom." She hugged her, seemingly longer than normal.

The rest at the table exchanged awkward looks for a minute or two. Then John rose from his seat.

"Oi, sit down and finish your turkey. Don't you dare walk out on my wife's fabulous cooking."

"But…" John started.

"We know what must be done, John. Give her some time to toughen up before you say anything," Jackie gently expressed. "And look at you, working all day and having just a drumstick. We are the Tylers, we don't take in a walking rake."

Never in his life had John been that obedient to a woman.

"Rose, everything's OK?"

"Fine, I'm fine. What can possibly go wrong?"

John stepped to the balcony and stood next to Rose, shoulder to shoulder (actually, shoulder to arm). "I'm sorry."

"That's not your fault. You're just being you."

"You mean I'm just being _him."_

"I thought you were alien to such utterances."

"I have only one heart. More human now. I don't know if that means something better."

"Me neither. Did they send you here to check up on me?"

"Do I look like a man who follows orders?"

"Sorry, didn't mean to say that. Though my mother seems very much like a commander to you," Rose said, looking at John for the first time in the conversation.

"She's a very scary woman. Really. Don't you see the way she frowned when I pushed the apple tart aside?"

"Maybe not. And what's wrong with apples, or tarts anyway? They aren't gonna exterminate ya."

"How am I supposed to know? Just a weird feeling that apples are not friends of mine," John smile. "And it's good to see you being cheeky."

"Shut up," she punched him in the arm.

"Oi, violence is a dreadful solution."

"It takes more than words to shut you up."

"There are other gentler ways, you know," his eyebrow rose suspiciously high.

"Oh I wish Captain Jack were here to hear that. He wouldn't miss such a chance."

They burst out laughing. It felt like a million year had passed since the day they rolled on the TARDIS floor laughing like children after being knocked down by a crash landing. On one of those days, Rose even gave the Doctor a really strong kick on the back when he accidentally rolled into her. As a payback, he delivered the same old speech about human violence, which usually resulted in his being pulled in the incidents. Rose did not catch half of the things he said, she was too busy figuring out which serum should be put on the bruise she just created. She did want to kick him to see him rolling the other way round (the way he rolled like a stone was cute), but it seemed that the kick was a tad stronger than she had expected. The Doctor continued ranting for half an hour, mostly because he wanted to spare no time for Rose to realize that was not an accidental roll at all.

The symphony of laughter died out as they grew to realize that their faces were making expressions which had been alien to them for a very long time. Still, a shadow of smile still lingered on their cheeks.

"I don't remember you using 'Oi' that much in the old time," Rose asked, with genuine curiosity on her face.

"I was born out of Donna, remember?" John smiled. "Oh dear, that sounds perfectly fine in my head. I must find another way to put it."

"Which means?" Rose still giggled at the newly-uttered sentence of John.

"Some of her characteristics poured into me during that meta-crisis process. And some of her memories, too. Not her personal memories, though. Because I was born out of a fusion between Donna and the hand, only those from her travels with me, or _him, _are transferred."

"Like what, for instance?"

"Like the devastation after your departing, for instance." His voice lowered, and he held her hand. He could feel her slight trembling for a minute or two before she started to speak again.

"That report, I should get back to it now. Maybe you should get some sleep now. The U.N.I.T fellows won't give you a day off tomorrow."

"Don't even think they will spare you. For one in Torchwood, you are extremely on good terms with them."

When he reached Rose's room's door, John stopped and turned around.

"Good night, Rose. It's marvelous to see your smile again."

"Me too, to see yours. Weird things happen at Christmas, don't they?"

"Yeah. And Rose-

BANG

A loud noise broke the silence of the Silent Night, along with a strange streak of light. Abandoning what he was saying, John rushed to the balcony, along with Rose, to find out what had happened.


End file.
